


Buried in Peace

by MrToddWilkins



Category: Archie Comics, Archie's Weird Mysteries (Cartoon), The Cape (TV 1996)
Genre: Boy Scouts, Dilton and his wacky inventions, Senior year, Short, secret Soviet space tech
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-19 07:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29746803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrToddWilkins/pseuds/MrToddWilkins
Relationships: Barchie - Relationship, Dilton Doiley/Midge Klump, Midge Klump/Moose Mason (past), they’re still friends
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. March 2,launch day

Around the TV in the A/V room at Riverdale High sat Archie Andrews and his friends,while on the screen itself was the newest Space Shuttle, _Kon-Tiki,_ 700 miles away in Florida. Archie had never before witnessed such a technological juxtaposition,and it was unlikely such a thing would again happen to him for a long time. The view showed _Kon-Tiki_ as it was ready for launch there on its pad. It was now less than half an hour until lift-off.

”I can’t believe Uncle Gerry is finally going to space at last!”, Midge Klump enthused from where she sat on a beanbag. “It’s so exciting!” Midge was a popular girl with short black hair and an athletic build to her body. She wanted to be a stuntwoman after they graduated in a few months.

”Yeah”, Moose Mason agreed. He had once been her boyfriend. Although they were no longer dating,they were still best friends. He was a big blonde boy who had led the Riverdale High Rangers to many football victories.

”And we’re in the final 9 minutes now of _Kon-Tiki_ ’s launch countdown on its historic mission to deliver the European laboratory module _Columbus_ to the International Space Station. Mission commander Jack Riles and pilot Gerald Klump have both checked in with mission control in Houston. It’s a Go for launch,folks. The rest of the crew has also reported in as ready. The weather looks fine here at Cape Canaveral.”

” _Kon-Tiki_ ,this is Launch Control. From all of us,and our partners at ESA,we wish you good luck on the voyage to bring Columbus to the heavens. You’re Go for launch.”

”Thanks,Launch Control.”

”T minus 2 minutes and counting. The umbilical vent hood is retracting at this time.”

”Oh,God”, Midge said. She put her hands over her eyes. “Just in case it blows up like _Challenger_.”

”T minus 30 seconds. The orbiter onboard computer has taken over the countdown. Water suppression system now flowing.....firing chain is armed. T minus 10,9,8,we have a Go for main engine start,we have main engine start,3,2,1,and lift-off of the Space Shuttle _Kon-Tiki_ ,lifting a new Columbus on a voyage of heavenly discovery! And the Shuttle has cleared the tower.”

”Houston now controlling, _Kon-Tiki_ heading for the heavens on this historic flight.....roll program complete. 2 million pounds of hardware and humans,taking aim on the International Space Station for a weekend arrival.”

Midge lowered her hands from her eyes.

”67 seconds into the flight, _Kon-Tiki_ ’s three main engines now throttling back up to 104% of rated thrust. All systems are still looking good,three good auxiliary power units,fuel cells,and main engines. 20 seconds to SRB separation.”

The two Solid Rocket Boosters were separated from the external tank and began their descent to the Atlantic Ocean,where recovery crews were standing by.

” _Kon-Tiki_ ,performance nominal.”

”Rog.”

”That call-up confirmed by commander Jack Riles,joined on the flight deck by pilot Gerald Klump and mission specialists Ted Burrows and Leland Duvall. On the mid-deck are mission specialists Anna O’Brien and Charlie Fox and payload specialist Martyn Waters of the UK Space Agency.”

Onward _Kon-Tiki_ climbed,out of the range of the tracking cameras at Kennedy Space Center. Soon it would be in Earth orbit. Houston advised that two minutes remained until main engine cutoff.

”You’re go for orbit.”

”Kind words,Bull,we’re go for orbit here.”

”Booster controller confirms main engine cutoff......and we have external tank separation. _Kon-Tiki_ safely on orbit,Columbus now heading to the International Space Station to expand the orbiting outpost’s scientific capability.”

Archie smiled. “Looks like a good launch,folks.”


	2. March 2,low Earth orbit

With a hiss inaudible in the vacuum of space,the payload bay doors of the _Kon-Tiki_ opened and exposed the Columbus module to the vacuum. On board the flight deck,pilot Gerald Klump was evaluating his data.

”Hey,Jack”, he called to Jack Riles down below.

”Yeah?”

”When you or Anna have some time,you can tell Houston it was a nominal launch trajectory-wise. We’re in an orbit of 195 by 200 nautical miles,pretty much on the preflight plan. The OMS-2 burn put us right where we need to be.”

”Sounds good,Gerry. Why don’t you and Le deploy the radiators,take some lunch,then go ahead into the NC-1 burn prep?”

“Got it”, Gerry nodded. Leland Duvall set to work deploying the Shuttle’s radiators from the bay doors while Gerry photographed the operation. Ted Burrows had already joined everyone else on the middeck,doffing their spacesuits and getting _Kon-Tiki_ configured for spaceflight. It had been as normal a launch as they would wish for.

”Hey,guys”, Riles called up. “Houston says to tell you it was a beautiful launch. The ascent could be seen from as far away as the Chesapeake.”

The two set to work on configuring the systems for the rendezvous burn, which was coming up in three hours.

”Alright,Le,let’s fire up the onboard radar”, Gerry said half an hour into the system checks.

”Radar is powering up”, Leland dutifully reported. “And we’re online,boys.” The shuttle’s onboard radar antenna was located in the nose section of the orbiter,where in earlier shuttles there’d been a maintenance hatch. The radar would conduct scans of the area around the shuttle to alert the crew of any space debris. It was based off the collision avoidance systems of the old _Gambit_ reconnaissance satellites.

”We see a good power-up, _Kon-Tiki_ ” called up Niles Mason,the rookie astronaut who was Capcom now that the Shuttle was in Earth orbit. “You’re Go for scan ops.”

”Roger that,Houston. We heard it was a smooth launch.”

”That’s affirmative,Gerry. For your information,you dropped your SRBs right on target,and they were floating just like they oughta be,and the boats’ve fished them and are bringing them back in.”

”Copy that. Okay,we’re proceeding into scan ops at this time.”


End file.
